


Together, Alone

by chibaken



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Coming Out, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M, Public Display of Affection, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Wartime AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-18 23:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11885445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chibaken/pseuds/chibaken
Summary: Draco thinks his Soulmark timer isn't going to appear at all. But then it does— and there's only a minute and seventeen seconds on the clock.





	Together, Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [serpensthesia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serpensthesia/gifts).



> This drabble is dedicated to the lovely Serpensthesia for her birthday (a day late)!! I tried to write you a fluffly soulmate AU, and then this Pretty Serious thing happened instead. Don't worry though— the end is pure self-indulgent happiness! <3
> 
> #serpaken forever
> 
> All the love to [Bixgirl1](https://bixgirl1.tumblr.com/) and [jadepresley](http://jadepresley.tumblr.com/) for looking over this! And to [noe](http://noeeon.tumblr.com/) and [femmequixotic](http://femmequixotic.tumblr.com/) for helping me with this idea and making me write it! Go follow them all on tumblr!

It started on his seventeenth birthday. 

Draco had known it would start then, of course. That part was normal. The clock was supposed to manifest as a tattoo on his skin, and begin its countdown to the moment Draco would meet his Soulmate. He’d been looking forward to the clock’s appearance all year— desperate for anything that might take his mind off his hopeless situation. Draco was exhausted, the damned cabinet was never going to be fixed, and his whole family was probably going to die as punishment.

And Draco had been prepared to die with them, resigned to the fact that his countdown tattoo might not appear at all, or might be stuck at 00:00:00:00:00:00 right from the beginning. 

Draco had _not,_ however, been prepared for the clock to appear at midnight and begin counting down from a mere one minute and seventeen seconds. His heart jumped in his chest. Clearly Draco was one of those rare wizards who had already met their Soulmate, but hadn’t known yet because he wasn’t of age at the time. Which didn’t help Draco in the slightest, as he could think of precisely _nobody_ at Hogwarts who he might like to spend the rest of his life with.

He stood up from the stool he’d set in front of the hopeless cabinet, grabbed his wand, and began making his way to the door of the Room of Hidden Things. Between the time he’d spent staring at his countdown in disbelief, the time it took to reach the door, and the few seconds he devoted to _not panicking_ , the clock reached zero at the very moment he pushed open the door.

Nobody was there. 

Although, perhaps… it _was_ quite dark. Draco quickly closed the door behind himself and cast a nonverbal _lumos._ There were no torches that lit up this part of the castle at night, and for some inexplicable reason, his Soulmate – whoever they were – had been standing in the dark.

“Hello?” Draco said. He tried not to sound too snappish or offended; this person _was_ his Soulmate, after all. “Are you there?”

Draco increased the strength of his spell, but even when he walked up and down the hall a few times, nobody appeared. 

So, Draco had been correct after all. He didn’t know why his arm had bothered to play this cruel joke on him— to give him a minute of hope. 

He had known he was alone. 

He had known.

He had.

Draco put away his wand and made his way to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom in the dark.

***

The Manor was frigid. It always was, these days.

Draco took a sip of his tea in a futile attempt to warm his body, but it had gone cold after setting there for hours during his Occlumency “lessons” with his Aunt Bellatrix.

“Poor little baby Draco’s never gonna have a boyfriend! It’s alright baby Draco! You can cry! I know how you _love_ to cry!” His aunt’s taunts still rang in his ears, even though she’d given up, cackled a bit, and then blessedly left the room several minutes ago. Now it was just Draco and his father, who was reading the Prophet in his chair and pretending not to have noticed his son’s recent humiliation.

And then it was Draco, his father, his mother, and a group of Snatchers, who were pushing three prisoners ahead of them: Granger, Weasley, and – _fuck_ – Potter. 

Potter’s face was fucked up, but Draco would still have known him anywhere. Especially when Potter’s eyes lifted from his own hands to stare at Draco with no small amount of astonishment.

And then they lowered to examine Potter’s hands again, then raised to look at Draco, then lowered _again_ and—what the bloody _hell_ was Potter doing? 

Draco vaguely noticed that his parents were speaking to the Snatchers, but he was much more interested in seeing just what was so interesting about Potter’s—

Countdown. Potter’s countdown, which had run out. Potter’s countdown, which – judging from the way he looked like he’d just been told he was destined to spend the rest of his life with a Death Eater – had probably only _just_ run out.

“Well, Draco?” asked his father hungrily. 

Just because Potter was looking at Draco in horror didn’t necessarily _mean—_ any one of the people here could be— If Potter was Draco’s Soulmate, he would have _been there_ that night, that night when Draco had lost all hope after his timer had run out and he’d been all—

Wait. 

Potter had been following Draco around for most of last year. Potter had waited hours outside the Room for Draco to emerge so he could find out what he was up to. He’d trailed after Draco all the time under that blasted Invisi—

Invisibility Cloak. 

_Potter had an Invisibility Cloak!_

He must have been there, that night! But of course he hadn’t revealed himself, because Potter hadn’t turned seventeen until the end of July, so he’d have had no way of knowing that Draco was his Soulmate. 

Until now. 

Potter had lost most of his shock, and now he mostly looked very intense in that Potterish way he had, and almost against his will, Draco felt something like joy expanding in his chest. He wasn’t destined to be alone forever after all. His Soulmate _had_ been there when he opened that door. And his Soulmate was _Potter_ of all people— perfect, Golden, snarky, unquestionably Good _Potter._ Potter, who was currently on a mission to save the world, and yet somehow _Draco_ was worthy of him _._ It seemed impossible, but Soulmarks never lied. Now that they knew, there was every reason to believe that someday they would meet again under different circumstances, maybe go on a few dates, and—

“Is it?” Draco’s father insisted. “Is it Harry Potter?”

It _was._ It was Harry Potter, and it was Draco’s _Soulmate_ , and Draco would do everything in his power to protect him.

“I can’t—” He could. “I can’t be sure.”

For the first time in a long time, Draco was full of hope, and when he looked at Potter’s face again, he could have sworn he saw the barest hint of a smile.

***

They’d done it. 

Voldemort was dead. It was mostly down to Harry – Draco had become used to thinking of him as Harry – but Draco had done his fair share. He’d Confunded Vince and Greg as soon as they’d arrived, and then nudged them gently towards the kitchens. He’d helped get the younger students to safety, and convinced at least a few of the older Slytherins to stay and fight for their school. He’d told everyone who would listen all that he knew about the fighting styles of various Death Eaters. Hell, he’d even saved one of the Weasley twins’ _lives_ when he’d happened to notice a spell coming at him from behind. He’d be sure to gloat about that whenever he finally got to see—

Harry was surrounded by various friends and parental figures clamouring to make sure he was all right. They cleared away rather abruptly – Luna Lovegood seemed to be making some sort of a fuss nearby – and Harry finally looked straight at Draco.

It was like a magnet, the force that compelled Draco to walk towards Harry. And Harry was walking at him as well, with that same intense, Potterish look in his eyes. 

They stopped when they came face to face, and Draco dared to lift his hand and brush a spot of grime off Potter’s cheekbone with the pad of his thumb. 

“Hello, Soulmate,” he said cheekily. Draco didn’t care that they’d just fought a battle. It was all over now, and he was alive, and Harry was alive, and he felt like he was floating on air. 

Harry smiled. “Hello, Draco,” he said. 

And then they were kissing. 

Draco could hear gasps echoing around the Great Hall, but he ignored them. He felt like he’d waited his whole _life_ to kiss Harry Potter, and he wasn’t interested in stopping to clarify how he’d switched sides and therefore had every _right –_ thank you very much – to be kissing his Soulmate. 

Draco shoved his tongue deeper into Harry’s mouth and wrapped his arms around his neck, even as he felt Harry’s arms circling his waist and squeezing the air out of him. Potter wiggled around a bit, seeming to prepare himself for something, and then—

“Put me _down!_ ” Draco pulled his mouth away from Harry’s lips to yell, horrified that his Soulmate could ever possibly have thought it might be acceptable to pick Draco up in public. He could feel his face flaming as Harry laughed, and he squirmed until Harry was forced to drop him. But Draco didn’t let that – admittedly ghastly – blunder stop him from going in for another kiss right away. In an effort to protect his dignity, he pinned Harry’s arms to his sides as he did it, and he was pleased when he heard a low sound of pleasure from Harry’s throat. 

“Harry? Draco?” Luna Lovegood’s dreamy voice interrupted, “You’re distracting everyone from my distraction.”

Indeed, when he separated himself from Harry’s mouth and looked around, the entirety of Hogwarts seemed to be staring at them, gobsmacked. Draco quickly dropped Harry’s hands and stepped away, noting the very attractive blush spreading up Harry’s neck and across his face. Draco was looking forward to finding out exactly how far down that blush—

“Er… excuse us,” Harry said to the room at large, and then he pulled Draco out of the Hall, down the corridor, and into an undamaged classroom. 

“Finally,” he said once he’d shut the door and stalked over to where Draco was leaning against a desk, “We can be alone.”

Draco smirked and lost no time grabbing the back of Harry’s head and pulling him into another heated kiss.

When he was together with Harry, being alone wasn’t quite so bad. 

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. Fred was able to save Remus and Tonks after Draco saved him ;)
> 
> Come be silly with me on [tumblr](https://o0o-chibaken-o0o.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
